SK Hynix accelerates memory development with Synopsys Verdi

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Synopsys Inc. announced that SK Hynix Inc. has addressed their debug challenges by adopting the Synopsys VC Apps open application programming interfaces (APIs) to directly link their internally developed test generation technology to the industry-leading Synopsys Verdi debug solution and allow their design and verification teams to customize their debug experience and boost debug productivity.

Synopsys' VC Apps open APIs provide direct access to design environment and verification information stored in Verdi's open databases, which are in turn used by all leading simulation, emulation and formal verification solutions. With this native integration, SK Hynix engineers can save hours on each run and debug cycle.

"At SK Hynix, we had to find just the right balance of innovations from our technology partners with our own innovative processes in order to become the memory leader we are today," said Edward Kim, director of memory CAE at SK Hynix. "The productivity our engineers gain from deployment of VC Apps and standardized use of Verdi helps us to not only maintain that balance, but also reduce our costs and get working products to our customers faster."

Traditional methods for debugging data and results from internal or third-party tools involve either ad hoc manual steps and/or translation scripts that are both time-consuming and error-prone. VC Apps provides debug integration capabilities for CAD teams and tool developers, making it easy for individual users to further customize their debug flows and experience within Verdi.

With design and verification teams spending, on average, half of their time on debug, the time spent searching for commands and options or repeating common sequences of clicks and actions accumulates into substantial time and cost. The same APIs for Verdi databases and GUIs are accessible to all users, with clear open source examples and tutorials available on the VC Apps Exchange website and through the VC Apps Toolbox in Verdi.

"We collaborate closely with our semiconductor industry partners to ensure that debug remains as simple as possible despite the complexity of their chips and increased verification challenges," said Yu-Chin Hsu, VP of R&D, Synopsys Verification Group.

"We continue our significant investment in the open Verdi architecture, as well as in specialized technologies and methodologies for optimizing our customers' and partners' unique debug flows. VC Apps is one of the keys to unlocking the full power and flexibility that we have architected into both Verdi and now Verification Compiler product."